The OptimaMed intervention to reduce inappropriate medications in nursing home residents with severe dementia: results from a quasi-experimental feasibility pilot study

Table 2 Intervention outcomes among 44 participating residents

Medication use	Pre-intervention	Post follow-up	p-value^***
Total number of regular medications (n)	372	327	0.0003
Total number of “generally appropriate” medications (n)	99	112	0.0741
Total number of “sometimes appropriate” medications (n)	194	167	0.0003
Total number of “exceptionally appropriate” medications (n)	12	10	0.4795
Number of medications per participant (mean ± SD)	7.86 ± 3.78	6.82 ± 3.75	0.0007
Proportion of participants using “generally appropriate” medications (%)	90.9	93.2	0.3173
Proportion of participants using “sometimes appropriate” medications (%)	97.7	97.7	1.000
Proportion of participants using “exceptionally appropriate” medications (%)	20.5	18.2	0.5637
Level of agitation (mean ± SD)^*	21.1 ± 19.5	21.3 ± 15.9	0.7139
Level of pain (scale 0 to 60, mean ± SD)^**	8.1 ± 2.3	9.7 ± 2.5	< 0.0001

SD, standard deviation
^*Sum of the number of times the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory items [31] were observed during the four 15-min observation periods
^**Sum of observations of PACSLAC-F items [29] during the four 15-min observation periods
^***p-values were estimated using Cochran’s Q test for categorical variables and paired T-test for continuous variables

ISSN: 1471-2318